on writing… again

Happiness is… daily prompts – the photo challenge!

on writing… again

I was supposed to do Indie Publishing week part 2, but… things aren't going as programmed, I guess. Thing is, I'm actually rewriting the next Book of the Immortals, Fire, before sending it out to an editor. I'm unhappy with my beta-readers (one is way too slow, the other is a writer), so I'm just trying to rewrite it how I want to read it.

I've already mentioned my problems with writers groups or critique groups or finding beta-readers that are as fast as I am. Hopefully when I'll have my first readers, some can become friends and beta-readers for the future works. In the meantime, I can only rely on myself and the editors I hire.

Most of my offline writers group thinks I should stick to screenplays because I use lots of dialog and very sparse prose: sorry folks, dialog is for THEATER not movies (movies are ACTION), and my dry prose is my voice. You'll never see me use purple prose anywhere, and not only because English is not my mother tongue. I was praised as a journalist in Italian, but I just hated that job, so I went back to prose.

My online writers group says I forget senses (which I do, but I'm not really looking for smells or sounds in books, that's why I leave them out in my own…) or suggest

Think about your favorite authors and how they weave together the elements that make up a story. What is the theme in this piece? How does it fit together with the rest? WHO are these charaters? What are their motivations? Why do they do what they do? There are so many unanswered questions to this piece. What are your favorite books and stories that you've read in Italian? How do THEY do the above?

I don't have favorite authors. I don't care about descriptions. I "rush" through the story I want to tell. As a reader, I'm probably a lazy one, so what? That why I'm indie-publishing. I don't care what the characters do every second of the day. I know they eat and drink and shit, but if it's not interesting for the story, I'm not going to say it. I'm assuming it, and I guess readers can assume it too. I'm never going to describe the recipes of a meal or any other "boring bit". I'm sure I can find readers out there that don't care about literary masterpieces and only want to enjoy a story.

I also discovered another Smashword author (still have to read her book, but it's on my ToBuy list, for later, just to avoid Smashwords friendly reminders to review purchased books! ;-) ). I just loved her presentation, and even if I'm not a fan of romance (but I love long-haired guys, haha) and hate first person stories, I WILL check her work.

On her blog she has a post that looks exactly like one I could have written. It's called Dancing with myself. I totally agree with her. I caught up on her blog posts, an I found a kindred soul. Now, I'm not going to ask her to be my critique partner (she hates 3rd person narration and I hate 1st… ;-) ), but I'll keep following her (see her added to my blogroll? ;-) ). I'll read her book eventually.

In the meantime I'd like to thank her for posting the beginning of Air on her other blog, Indiebookslist. Just added a link to my free reads! :-) Please share/tweet/forward to your friend her link with the free excerpt – it will always be here, but if you could help me spread the word… thank you! To to the post and send it out! :-)